LATEST NEWSYear of the Snake: Venomous Snakes of Nepal - Handbook available for free download
1.3.2013 The recently published handbook "Venomous Snakes of Nepal. A photographic guide." is meant to enable the population of Nepal to quickly identify poisonous snakes and thus react to snakebites in an appropriate way - which could save many lifes. The book is distributed for free to the Nepalese population, and is also available for download, in English and Nepali (4 MB) PDF.
More information... BiK-F polar bear paper on place 13 on the list of Science News of TOP 25 papers of 2012!
The paper about the real age of the polar bear was elected 13th best of the ScienceTOP 25 papers of the year 2012, together with another polar bear study. (note: the top 12 studies were looking at topics as Higg's particle, landing on mars, avian flu ...) Congratulations!
Link to ScienceNews... Special issue of Journal of Biogeography on ecological niche modelling
BiK-F researchers coordinated theDecember special issue of the Journal of Biogeography, under the title "The ecological niche as a window to biodiversity". The papers outline the areas of research that need to be developed if species distribution models should be improved, especially through the addition of more biological processes. They further discuss how to implement these models, through collecting more accurate and relevant data and the use of modern statistical approaches to fit the models to this data.
Link to the Special Issue BiK-F at the DAAD Science Tour "Understanding Biodiversity and Climate Change”
29.11.2012 The BiK-F junior research group leader Steffen Pauls represented BiK-F at the Get-together of this year's DAAD-Science-Tour. During their one-week trip across Germany, 25 scientists from all over the world had the opportunity to discuss current developments in biodiversity and climate change and to define common areas of interest as starting points for future cooperation. The Get-together at Leipzig, where six institutions, inculding BiK-F, presented themselves to the tour participants, was one of the highlights of the tour. BiK-F research on Costa Rican TV
November 12, Here's a TV clip for all Spanish speakers. "Umbrales" ist a TV magazine that showcases research done at the State University of Costa Rica. In one of the latest episodes they did a 30 minute piece on the work of Maria Alejandra Maglianesi, PhD student at BiK-F, who is conducting a study about specialization of hummingbird-plant interactions in the Costa Rican rainforest.
>>Watch the programme on YouTube BiK-F paper among years Top 20 in 'Aquatic conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems'
November 5, According to the Wiley-Blackwell publisher's report for 2011 a paper from an BiK-F researcher was one of the top 20 papers contributing to the 2011 impact factor of the journal ‘Aquatic conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems’. The paper by Dr. Sonja Jaehnig is titled "Restoration effort, habitat mosaics, and macroinvertebrates - does channel form determine community composition?”
>> Aquatic conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, doi: 10.1002/aqc.976 Call for aplications: Two BiK-F fellowships at the Goethe International Postdoc Programme (GO-IN)
October 10, Within the COFUND Program – co-financed by the Marie Curie program of the European Union – and in cooperation with the Goethe University, BiK-F will host two outstanding international postdoctoral fellows for 24 months each, conducting their own research project in the general context of BiK-F. Postdoctoral researchers from all nationalities other than German with a maximum of 6 years postdoc experience are eligible, however, candidates may not have lived in Germany for more than 6 months within the 36 months prior to the application deadline.
Eligibility criteria and Application guide... Summer School in Brazil run by BiK-F scientists
September 24, 2012. A two-week summer course “Phylogenetics and Evolution” aimed at advanced MSc/PhD students and PostDocs in the field of evolutionary biology at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in Recife, Brazil starts today. The course instructors are Dr. Daniele Silvestro (UNIL, BiK-F) und Dr. Jan Schnitzler (BiK-F).
Read on... BiK-F scientist meet members of German parliament
June 12, 2012. The Science meets Parliament is being held this week in Berlin, where scientists meet up with members of the German parliament (Bundestag). Prof. Dr. Bernhard Stribrny and Dr. Ulrich Kuch (both BiK-F) have been chosen to attend.
Read on... LOEWE beneficiaries launch joint PR initiative
May 25, 2012. 27 research projects funded by the state of Hesse through the LOEWE programme have launched a collective initiative for communication. Combining eight LOEWE centres, BiK-F being the largest, and nineteen key areas of the programme, ProLoewe intends to raise public awareness for LOEWE.
Read on... BiK-F junior researcher does science slam
April 24, 2012. Katja Heubach PhD, BiK-F, took part in a Hessian science slam where she entertained the audience wih a brief account of her research on ecosystem services The title of her slam was "Dirty Calculating".
Read on.. BiK-F representative at EU Working Group concerning biodiversity strategy
April 4, 2012. The Biodiversity Climate and Research yet again contributes to a Working Group of the European Union about biodiversity. A short while ago Prof. Dr. Bernhard Stribrny, BiK-F, has been elected to a member of the EU Working Group „No Net Loss of Ecosystems and their Services“.
More... These days in Frankfurt: 6th Annual Meeting of the Specialist Group on Macroecology of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ)
From February 29 to March 2, more than hundred participants will meet at the 6th annual meeting of the Specialist Group on Macroecology of the GfÖ. This event aims to bring together scientists and students interested in the research field of macroecology. High-profile researchers like Miguel B. Araújo (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain & University of Évora, Portugal) or Carsten Rahbek (Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Denmark) have been invited as keynote speakers.
More... Award for BiK-F Post Doc
January 26, 2012. BiK-F postdoc Francesco DalGrande (Imke Schmitt, project area C) received the Mason Hale award for best dissertation in lichenology in the past two years. This is a prestigious award by the International Association for Lichenology. It was presented during the IAL meeting in Bangkok, Thailand in Jan. 2012. Francesco received the award for his studies on population biology of the lichen Lobaria pulmonaria which he conducted at WSL and the University Bern, Switzerland. It's christmas time...
December 23, 2011. Click here BiK-F scientist gets award from the Romanian Academy
December 6, 2011. Dr. Miklos Balint, project area C, has been awarded the "Grigore Antipa Award". The award is designated in memory of Grigore Antipa (1867‑1944), a Romanian zoologist, ichthyologist, ecologist and oceanographer. It is handed out by the Biology Section of the Romanian Academy and is given yearly to an author or a small group of cooperating authors for publication activity in fields related to zoology/ecology. Mr Balint received the price shared with Dr. Lujza Ujvárosi (Babes‑Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania). The award prized their works on the phylogeography/phylogenetics of montane aquatic insects (mostly caddisflies and craneflies). These are characteristic species in most montane aquatic systems. Montane aquatic species received considerable attention during the last years due to their peculiar patterns of speciation and ice‑age survival in European mountains. BiK-F to chair symposium at Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine
November 30, 2011. On December 5th, 2011 BiK-F and the Bangladesh Association for the Advancement of Tropical Medicine (BAATM) jointly present a symposium at the 60th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) in Philadelphia, USA. Founded in 1903, the ASTMH is a worldwide organization of scientists, clinicians and program professionals whose mission is to promote global health through the prevention and control of infectious and other diseases that disproportionately afflict the global poor. The symposium with the title Snakebite Envenomation: from Global Awareness to Best Practice Implementation will feature leading snakebite authorities from Bangladesh, Germany, the United Kingdom, Nepal, Nigeria and Costa Rica.
>>More Information Upcoming: Thomas Dietz lecturing about "Driving the human footprint towards sustainability"
November 9, 2011. Prof. Thomas Dietz (Western University Michigan), a renowned environmental sociologist, will be a guest lecturer at the lecture series "Die Zukunft des Lebens (The future of life)" which is organised by BiK-F and the Goethe-University. He will be talking about sustainability raising two fundamental concerns human well-being and state of the environment. What are the trajectories of each? How much human well-being are we generating for the harm we do to the environment? Are there ways of getting more well-being while doing less harm? The lecture (in English) will take place on November 17th, 2011 at 6.30 pm at Casino Campus Westend, Goethe University, Grueneburgplatz 1, Frankfurt am Main. The corresponding seminar about 'Sustainability: globalization, institutions and strucutural human ecology' takes place on November 17, 2011 at 10.30 am to 12 am at Eisenhower Raum ( Room 1.314) at Campus Westend, Goethe University, Grueneburgplatz 1, Frankfurt am Main.
>> Flyer of the lecture series (only available in German)
BiK-F study on the cover of Nature Climate Change: Loss in genetic diversity of species due to climate change may be greater than loss of diversity at species level
BiK-F scientists Steffen Pauls, Carsten Nowak and colleagues modelled the distribution of nine mountain‑dwelling aquatic insect species and compared a 'business as usual' scenario for 2080 with one in which there would be reduced carbon dioxide emissions. Their results published in 'Nature Climate Change' suggest that future contractions in the distribution of these species will be accompanied by severe losses of genetic evolutionary lineages and genetic diversity. The projected losses at the genetic level greatly exceed those at the scale of traditionally described species.>> Press release
>> Publication http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE1191 BiK-F research paper selected by the Faculty of 1000
September 30, 2011. A recent publication by BiK-F researchers has just been selected by the renowed "Faculty of 1000". The Faculty consists of peer-nominated outstanding researchers in the fields of medicine and biology. Only excellent scientific contributions with a strong impact on their field of research get nominated. The selected paper "Cryptic biodiversity loss linked to Global Climate Change", published as the cover story in the september issue of Nature Climate Change by researchers of the BiK-F project area C investigates the effects of Climate Change on the genetic diversity of insect species and is believed to have "have important implications for biodiversity research in general", as Prof. Ruben Sommaruga from the University of Innsbruck writes on the Faculty of 1000 homepage. The paper is ranked as "must read" and is ranked in the "current top 10" list of the most relevant papers in the field of ecology. More BiK-F young scientists awarded
September 25, 2011. PhD student Jutta Geismar (project area C, Adaptation and Climate) has won the poster prize of the 2011 annual meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Limnologe (German Society for Limnology) in Weihenstephan/Germany. The poster presented first results of her project which investigates the dispersal capacities of aquatic invertebrates under Climate Change. The project is funded by BiK-F and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
Jonathan Heubes (PB B) has received the prize for the best poster at the international ALTER-Net Summer School "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: An Interdisciplinary Perspective" (7 - 16 September 2011 in Peyresq, France ) for his poster "Climate and land use change affect plant diversity and provisioning ecosystem services: Examples from West Africa".
Tim Schikora's (PB A) talk "The Impact of Climate on Evolution and Diversity of African Antelopes" has been won the award for best young scientist's talk at the 85th Annual Conference of the German Society of Mammalogy in Luxembourg.
Poster award at GeoMunich 2011 goes to BiK-F Ph.D. student
September 13, 2011. Tina Lüdecke is a Ph.D. student working in project area A under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Andreas Mulch. At this years' joint meeting of the "Geologische Vereinigung", "Geological Society of America" and the "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften" in Munich, called GeoMunich 2011, she presented a poster which was awarded one of the three poster prizes for students. The poster gave information about her work on "Late Cenozoic Paleoenvironmental Isotope Records of the Central Anatolian Plateau". Co-authors were Andreas Mulch, Tamas Mikes, Fabian Schemmel and Bora Rojay (Middle East Technical University Anakara). Junior journalists visit BiK-F
August 28, 2011. 20 junior journalists from 17 countries and four continents visited BiK-F on Sunday and informed themselves about the research topics and goals of the centre. They currently visit the region in the context of the project "Xplore FrankfurtRheinMain". During the one-week project, the journalists visit research institutes and development centres and engage in discussions with leading researchers and decisionmakers from the worlds of science and business. During their visit at BiK-F, in an introduction lecture followed by a lively discussion the group got an overview of the centre's structure and the wide range research issues, before Professor Bernhard Stribrny illustrated some of the topics more in detail with selected exhibits in the Senckenberg museum.
Young coral researchers meet at BiK-F
August 18, 2011. During two days, close to 30 young scientists meet at the "2nd PhD and PostDoc Meeting 2011 on Coral Reef research" in Frankfurt, to exchange results and ideas arount their common research topic: tropical coral reefs as well as deep and cold water reefs. Most of theme work for gereman research institutions and represent different disciplines: Biologists and chemists are participating as well as geologists or modellers. They all hope to contribute with their work to a better understanding of the fragile and complexe coral reefs systems, which are massively threatened by climate change. Just launched: www.klimanavigator.de - new webbased guide to German climate research and its results
July 25, 2011. The Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) is one of the initial partners of the new website www.klimanavigator.de. The platform pools up-to-date knowledge on climate change and summarises the current research findings on climate, climate change and its consequences. The website also lists German research institutions working in the field. The "Klimanavigator" has been initiated by the Climate Service Center Hamburg (CSC).
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